A new development proposed for a tiny strip of land on Highway 26 came to Collingwood council this week for approval.
During their Nov. 18 committee of the whole meeting, councillors considered an application to approve a site plan and zoning change for 11589 Highway 26 – called Cranberry Marsh Estates – to remove a holding symbol on the land. This would make way for 26 freehold townhouses, a road and an outdoor amenity space, including a children’s play area.
The proposal would facilitate the developer connecting the Vacation Inn trail to the town’s Cranberry Marsh trail through a three-metre-wide asphalt trail.
Although the provincial Planning Act changed as of 2022 and site-plan approval no longer requires such applications come before council, the applicant started their application for the project in 2021, so this application is grandfathered under the old rules.
Owner Hill Ridge Homes Inc., represented by Colin Travis of Travis and Associates at Monday’s meeting, acknowledged the age of the file during his remarks.
“One of the reasons why we’re here a few years later is we’ve worked extensively with the NVCA (Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority) to address their concerns and comments,” Travis told councillors.
The 1.2-hectare property, which is currently vacant, is on the south side of Highway 26, approximately 190 metres east of Vacation Inn Drive and 280 metres east of Princeton Shores Boulevard. Greentree Gardens and Emporium is to the east of the property.
Mayor Yvonne Hamlin asked if it could be at all possible for both the applicant and the owner of the Greentree property to agree on installing a service road between the two to minimize how many vehicles would have to exit their street onto Highway 26.
Town planner Lindsay Ayers told councillors that the application for Greentree had been recently withdrawn, with the property going up for sale.
“It’s challenging when you have two different property owners,” said Ayers. “We did encourage discussions between the property owners to minimize the number of entrances onto (Highway) 26, it just was not feasible.”
However, that information didn’t ease Hamlin’s mind.
“I can’t say enough about how worried I am having a lot of developments with their own access points onto a highway in our community,” she said.
Coun. Steve Perry raised the issue of parking on the site. All the townhomes will have one parking space in the garage and one parking space in the driveway, for two spots total. There will be no street parking permitted, nor is street parking permitted on Highway 26.
“I understand encouraging active transportation, but I want to know practically how visitors are going to be accommodated here,” said Hamlin. “I think, practically, there’s going to be a problem.”
Ayers said two transit stops are located within 300 metres of the subject property, and there will be wording baked into any purchase agreement for the townhouses that buyers understand there is no visitor or on-street parking available, and they would be sold geared to one-vehicle families.
Coun. Kathy Jeffery said she took issue with paving of the trail connection with asphalt.
The town’s planning director, Summer Valentine, clarified that the asphalt treatment for the trail was a staff suggestion to encourage accessibility, so if council wanted a different trail treatment they could take that back and work through that with the developer.
“We were looking at an all-season pathway that could be cleared in the wintertime,” explained Travis.
At the end of discussion, councillors voted 7-1 in favour of moving the proposal along to the next regular meeting of council, with Hamlin opposed.
The matter will next come back for approval from council at their Dec. 2 meeting.
To learn more about the proposal, including all the studies completed to support the application, click here.
